1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications networks. Specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for configuring a personal area network (PAN) based on the degree of mobility of the elements of the network.
2. Background Art
Personal Area Networks (PANs) are proliferating rapidly and widely with the advancement of network technologies and the growth of network-utilizing, and even network-dependent applications. In general, a personal area network is a network comprised of devices (xe2x80x9cmember devicesxe2x80x9d) that are personal to a particular user, such as the user""s personal digital assistant (PDA), laptop computer system, and cell phone. Other devices may be members of a PAN under certain circumstances, such as desktop computers, other computers and information processing and storage systems, document centers, other telephone and communication systems, and portals and other interface devices. Such other devices may or may not be specifically personal to that user on all occasions, but under the circumstances, they may be a part of that user""s PAN.
The personal area network can also include services supporting the interaction, collaboration and cooperation among the member devices. The member devices are communicatively coupled in the personal area network using a wireless technology such as Bluetooth, infrared, wireless Local Area Network (wireless LAN), etc., or combinations of these technologies. However, a personal area network can also include other devices, as well as local area network (LAN) devices and wide area network (WAN) devices that communicate by way of WAN/LAN-to-PAN bridges or proxies.
Typically, some member devices in a particular personal area network may travel together with the user, as from the business office to the home and/or home office, through airports and other public places, and to points in between. Other member devices may xe2x80x9cresidexe2x80x9d at a particular location, such as the home or office, yet are possibly present in different rooms therein. Others still may be fixed at a specific location therein. Yet others may occasionally travel with the user, and occasionally xe2x80x9cresidexe2x80x9d at a particular location.
The various member devices constituting a PAN have their own characteristics. These characteristics are unique to each device. One such characteristic is degree of mobility. Given the portability and mobility of certain of the member devices, such as cell phones, laptop computers, and PDAs, they are more likely to be mobile than certain other of the member devices, such as desktop computers and document centers. However, it is appreciated that even the more stationary devices may move from time to time. For example, a desktop computer may be transferred to another office, or a document center may be wheeled to another room or a different floor. Certain member devices, such as fixedly mounted Bluetooth to LAN portals, are completely static. Such static devices seldom, if ever, move; they are used as static member devices.
Another such characteristic is location. Some of the member devices are more likely to be at certain locations and less likely to be at other locations than certain of the other member devices. Mobile member devices will most likely be present and used in a wider variety of locations than more stationary member devices. For example, the locations of cell phones, laptop computers, and PDAs may change almost constantly. Further, such mobile member devices may be used in any of these locations, and/or in-transit. Desktop computers, document centers, facsimile systems, and other such less mobile member devices, may be used only in a certain office, or on a certain floor in a certain building. However, they may, perhaps occasionally be moved from office to office, or to a different floor in the building, etc. Static member devices have fixed locations, which seldom, if ever change. Another such characteristic is degree of utilization of a member device while mobile. It is appreciated that other such characteristics may be described.
Further, the characteristics for certain of the devices may change. For certain of the member devices, change in characteristics, such as change in degree of mobility and change in location may be more or less frequent, and the member devices may be used differently as their degree of mobility changes. For example, a cell phone or a PDA may have a high degree of mobility, frequently taken for use while the user is actually traveling. However, when the user reaches a destination, such as an office, the cell phone and PDA degree of mobility changes; it is reduced, for at least as long as the user remains in the office. Perhaps in the office, the cell phone is turned off as a line telephone there is used, and the PDA is placed in a docking cradle and synchronism with the desktop computer. In another example, a laptop computer may be used equally in the office, in the home, and while mobile, and it may be mobile a significant portion of the time it is in use. However, when it is used in the office or at home, it has a different degree of mobility than when it is used while traveling. For the time it is in the office, a laptop computer may be used much like a desktop computer; normally a device less mobile than the laptop. Further, travel may be sporadic, with periods of time where the laptop does not often leave the office. Thus, it is apparent that one characteristic, such as degree of mobility, may be related to other characteristic, such as location.
Device characteristics are significant because certain configuration parameters, including operational protocols and operating enablements, and restrictions may be associated with them. One such associated configuration parameter is polling. Member devices in a personal area network poll to determine their location vis-à-vis the personal area network, and other devices with which they can communicate. Depending on their relative degrees of mobility, the frequency of such polling by member devices may be correspondingly more or less frequent. For example, member devices with high degrees of mobility, such as a particular cell phone or PDA, may poll quite frequently. Other member devices, perhaps a desktop computer and a document center, move much less frequently, and correspondingly have relatively low degrees of mobility. Hence, they poll commensurably less frequently than the high degree of mobility member devices do.
Another member device, a laptop computer for instance, may have as high a degree of mobility as the aforementioned PDA and cell phone. However, perhaps under certain circumstances, the laptop computer has not quite as high a degree of mobility, as when it is used in an office in the same way that a desktop computer is used. In the first situation, where the laptop computer has a high degree of mobility, it polls quite frequently, as do other devices with commensurate degrees of mobility. In the second circumstance, the laptop computer, used in the same way as a desktop computer, has a lower degree of mobility, commensurate with that of a desktop computer. In that circumstance, the laptop computer polls commensurably less frequently.
In the case of fixed position member devices, such as a Bluetooth to LAN portal fixedly mounted on a structural surface such as a ceiling, the member device is static; its corresponding degree of mobility is effectively zero. In as much as this device xe2x80x9cknows where it is at all times,xe2x80x9d its polling rate can be exceedingly infrequent; perhaps it does not poll at all.
Another such associated configuration parameter is security. Configuring security settings based on the propensity of a member device to move about, and/or to find itself in a location of unknown or greater risk is desirable to reduce threats to the security of data, and the integrity of the network. Such threats include unauthorized contact by xe2x80x9coutside,xe2x80x9d i.e., non-member communicative devices. Such unauthorized contact may compromise sensitive data stored within the member device, or expose the personal area network, via the member device, to such compromise, or to infection. Thus, it is important to configure security settings to promote the safety and integrity of the personal area network as well as the data and information stored therein or transferred thereon.
Another associated configuration parameter is that of services. Many mobile devices, including member devices of a personal area network are powered, especially while mobile, by batteries. Battery power is significantly finite and must be routinely refreshed by recharging to enable mobile devices to operate. The member devices of a personal area network may thus face power constraints while away from their battery chargers, as they often are while mobile. Power dependent services include sending and receiving data, inquiries, authentication, and establishing network connections. Power saving modes of operation are desirable for such services, when the member devices are operating on battery power, away from the location of their battery chargers.
For example, member devices in a Bluetooth-enabled personal area network, prior to establishing communicative coupling, are in a STANDBY mode, wherein they xe2x80x9clistenxe2x80x9d for messages at intervals of 1.28 seconds. Connection is initiated by any of the member devices, which then becomes the xe2x80x9cMasterxe2x80x9d unit. The Master transmits a PAGE message, if the address sought is known, or an INQUIRY message followed by a subsequent PAGE message, if the address sought is unknown. The INQUIRY message is typically used for xe2x80x9cfindingxe2x80x9d other Bluetooth-enabled devices. Responding devices become xe2x80x9cSlavexe2x80x9d units. Once contact is established, power saving services can be applied.
The Master device can put the Slaves into a HOLD mode, where only an internal timer is running. Slaves can also demand to be placed into a HOLD mode. When units transition out of HOLD mode, data transfer restarts instantly. Another power saving service is SNIFF mode, in which Slaves devices xe2x80x9clistenxe2x80x9d to the network, but at a reduced rate, thereby reducing their duty cycle. SNIFF mode is programmable, and application-dependent. Yet another power-saving service is PARK mode, in which a device remains synchronized to the network, but does not participate in the network communications traffic. In the order of increasing power efficiency, SNIFF mode has the highest duty cycle, then HOLD mode, whose duty cycle is lower, and finally PARK mode, which has the lowest duty cycle.
Member devices with high degrees of mobility can be expected to be running on battery power, away from their battery chargers significantly more often than other member devices with commensurably lower degrees of mobility. For member devices with high degrees of mobility, in locations away from their battery chargers and not in present, active communication with the network, it may be desirable to operate in a configuration of greater power efficiency and corresponding lower duty cycle. For member devices of lower degrees of mobility, and/or located proximate to their battery chargers or running on line power or other power source, power efficiency may not be as crucial, such that power efficient configuration may be less advantageous.
Another configuration parameter is allowable, or enabled applications for a given characteristic of a member device. For example, if a member device is a portable printer, it is likely that it will be used to actually print when it is deployed in a certain location, and/or with a lower degree of mobility, such as the home, the office, and other fixed, and perhaps semi-fixed sites, such as client sites including visited locales and temporary office structures. It is less likely that it will be used to actually print when in transit, with a higher degree of mobility, as in a vehicle, a train, or a plane. When the member printer is deployed in a semi-fixed locale, it may be configured to print. However, when in transit, it may more commonly be configured in some non-printing standby mode. It should be appreciated that the present case illustrates overlapping configuration parameters, as the more common in-transit non-printing standby state is conceivably a more power-efficient state, and possibly more secure. It should be appreciated that other configuration parameters contingent on network device characteristics, beside those discussed above, exist and may yet be developed.
To maintain appropriate configuration parameters, such as to maximize power efficiency, and to maintain both the security of sensitive information and the operability of the personal area network, member devices should be configured in accordance with their specific characteristics. For instance, in the area of security, member devices in the personal area network should be able to communicate with each other, but communication with other devices outside the network should be controlled. In some instances, communication between the personal area network and non-member devices in the vicinity is desirable, while in other instances it is not. For example, when in a trusted location such as the business office, and with a relatively low degree of mobility set therein, the user may only encounter xe2x80x9cknownxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cfriendlyxe2x80x9d devices, and thus a low security level may be used to facilitate communication between the personal area network and non-member devices. When traveling between the office and home, with a relatively high degree of mobility, and in public places, the user may encounter unknown devices, and so will want to use a higher level of security. Upon reaching home, the user may want to return to the lower security level, or to some other security level that is appropriate.
To implement the proper operating configuration, a user changes settings on each of the member devices in order to appropriately configure each device to conform with its unique characteristics. Generally, a user-friendly interface is provided for each device so that the user can change the settings as needed.
However, a problem with the prior art is that the user separately changes the settings on each of the devices in his/her personal area network. First, the user must retrieve each member device (e.g., from a briefcase, etc.). Because the devices may likely be in some type of power-saving mode, the user will also have to activate the devices and wait for them to power up. Then, for each device, the user must execute the application that changes the configuration. This may require scrolling through a number of windows or menus in order to find and set the required options. Thus, in order to configure the devices in the personal area network, the user is inconvenienced in several different ways.
In addition, the application for changing the configuration is likely to be different for each device. Thus, the user needs to remember the intricacies involved with changing the configurations on each device in the personal area network. Further, under these circumstances, errors may be likely to occur.
Furthermore, as personal area networks and member devices proliferate, the inconvenience to the user will be exacerbated because situations where the configuration needs to be changed from one mode to another will be more frequently encountered.
Another conceivable prior art solution is revamping existing network architecture and the wireless netscape to account for individual member device characteristics. However, this would appear to be exceedingly expensive and inefficient.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method and/or system that efficiently accommodates member devices having varied respective characteristics. Another need exists for a method and system which meets the above need and which can accommodate changes in the varied characteristics of member devices. Still another need exists for a method and system which meets the above needs and which is applicable without revamping of existing network infrastructures.
The present invention provides a method and system thereof that can efficiently accommodate member devices having varied respective characteristics. The present invention also provides a method and system which achieves the above accomplishment and which can accommodate changes in the varied characteristics of member devices. Further, the present invention provides a method and system which achieves the above accomplishment and which is applicable without revamping of existing network infrastructures.
In the present embodiment, the present invention pertains to a method and system for dynamically configuring a device, adapted to be communicatively coupled in a wireless personal area network, with an attribute corresponding to a characteristic of the device. An attribute setting corresponding to this characteristic is received.
In one embodiment, the attribute setting constitutes a discretely variable value conforming to the degree of mobility of the device and/or network. In another embodiment, the attribute setting constitutes a discretely variable value conforming to the nature of the location of the network and/or device. In another embodiment, the attribute setting constitutes a discretely variable value derived by combining correspondence to the degree of mobility of the network and/or device and conformance to the nature of its location. In yet another embodiment, multiple attribute settings may exist, one constituted by a discretely variable value corresponding to the degree of mobility, and another constituted by a discretely variable value conforming to the nature of the location, characterizing the network and/or device. Such discretely variable values may range from a discrete high value to a discrete low value. Upon receiving this attribute setting, a configuration state is implemented correspondingly, in one embodiment.
In one embodiment, a configuration state so implemented activates a corresponding device configuration. This configuration may selectively enable and restrict modes of operation of the device in one implementation. In one embodiment, these modes of operation may define settings used by applications executing on the device. Such applications may include, but are not limited by the present invention to, security settings; polling, interconnection, and control protocols; communicative response and other communicative capabilities; power level definition; power state permissiveness; and various other protocols. In one embodiment of the present invention, the personal area network and member devices may incorporate communicative capability compliant with the Bluetooth specification. However, it should be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to Bluetooth applications, but is applicable to any wireless, infrared, or other communicative technology.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, which are illustrated in the various drawing figures.